The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to systems and methods that enable a user to interact with, analyze, or modify a medical image, and more particularly to systems and methods that include a touch-sensitive display unit.
Patients can be imaged using a wide variety of different imaging technologies. Medical imaging systems may include ultrasound imaging systems, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems, computer tomography (CT) systems, positron emission tomography (PET) systems, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) systems, x-ray imaging systems, and others. The medical images include a region-of-interest (ROI) of the patient, e.g., heart, lung, brain, or whole body. The ROI may include anatomical features that are analyzed by healthcare provides or other qualified professionals to diagnose a medical condition.
On some occasions, it may be desirable to analyze the medical images to select certain anatomical features in the medical image for further analysis and/or to obtain measurements of the anatomical features. For example, ultrasound images of the heart (also called echocardiograms or “echos”) may show anatomical structures (e.g., ventricles, atria, valves, septum, and the like) as well as blood flow through the heart. Such images of the heart may be used to measure dimensions of designated cardiac structures to diagnose a medical condition. For example, cardiovascular mortality and morbidity increases with increasing values of left ventricular mass. Accordingly, it is desirable to have diagnostic systems that can determine the left ventricular mass.
In some known diagnostic systems, an operator of the system may use an input device to select the anatomical features for further analysis and/or to measure the anatomical features. The input devices typically include a keyboard, mouse, touchpad, and the like. Such input devices, however, may require additional space for the diagnostic system and may complicate the usability of the diagnostic system.